Monday, August 7, 2017

Manhole: Episode 2

I never imagined it would be so much fun to watch a giant man-child get sent back in time to experience high school again, but ermahgawd,
it’s so much fun! I could watch poor, hapless Bong Pil flounce around
all day long. I’m sure there are other things I’m supposed to be paying
attention to, like the plot and directing and character development, but
honestly, I just want more foot stomping, head shaking, and precious
looks of confusion.Episode 2: “Oh, the horrible life. One more time?”In 2017, Soo-jin searches for the vanished Bong Pil, calling his
phone and fuming that he chucked her wedding invitation before bolting.
When he doesn’t pick up, she calls juice-truck owner Jin-sook, who is
back with their group of friends getting adorably drunk. Soo-jin asks if
Pil came back there, but Jin-sook slurs that Pil never returned after
leaving with her. By herself, Soo-jin scoffs that Pil is always unpredictable and stomps her way home, raging at the skies that this is why she and Pil just can’t get along. Methinks the lady doth protest too much.

Returning home, Soo-jin gets a text from her fiancé, Jae-hyun,
apologizing for punching Pil earlier. Soo-jin looks less than happy at
the message, and instead starts firing off a bunch of texts to Pil,
demanding that he answer her. She gets angrier and angrier, until
finally she texts him, “Have a good life, Idiot.” Unbeknownst to Soo-jin, the magical manhole has been playing goalie
to all her messages, and we see them literally bounce off the cover.
Looks like there isn’t much reception while time traveling.

The next morning, Pil’s mom and dad happily dig into breakfast,
cheerfully determined to live their lives without worrying about their
good-for-nothing son. Across town, Pil’s friends are having a rough start to the day, with
all of them finding something missing in their normal routines. Then,
simultaneously, they all come to the same conclusion: Bong Pil is
missing.This jumps us back ten years ago to where we left off, with 2017 Pil
calling his high school German teacher “Gestapo” (the name of the Nazi
police enforcers).

Pil is understandably completely confused and keeps asking everyone
why they’re all here, pointing to his friends who – as far as he knows –
already graduated. The teacher waves his baton threateningly and
instructs Pil to recite grammar rules before he receives a beating.Poor Pil is still trying to convince himself that this is a dream and
has a minor meltdown, yelling, “If I didn’t know this ten years ago,
how could I know it now?!” The entire class stares at him like the crazy
person he seems to be, and Gestapo hollers at him to turn around. The
next thing we hear is Pil getting smacked by the dreaded baton. Ouch.

After class, neighborhood hyung Gu-gil tends to Pil’s battle wounds
while Dal-soo serenely serenades them nearby. Still trying to figure out
what’s going on, Pil asks his friends why they’re back in school when
they already graduated. They, of course, think he’s lost it and start
checking to see if Gestapo hit Pil on the head. Pfft.Pil takes refuge in a tree and contemplates his old-school 2G flip
phone, finally believing that he might have traveled back in time
exactly ten years. Just as he’s coming to grips with the truth, Jin-sook
bounds up, smacking his injured butt as she demands a head scratch.While obliging her, Pil desperately asks if she believes in time
travel. He jumps down to lean in close and asks, “What if I tell you
that I’m from the future?”

Undaunted, Jin-sook asks quite matter-of-factly, “Then where are you
in the present?” Pil stares, gobsmacked, and Jin-sook logically points
out that if he really had come back from the future, then there should
be two of him: his past self and future self. Heh, Pil looks like his
brain just exploded.At track practice, Pil’s coach finds him pouting on the sideline. Pil
mumble-whines that he already quit track years ago, but his coach talks
over him to advise that while Pil has amazing acceleration during the
race, he has a terrible start. Pil morosely thinks that he’s right: He’s
always had a bad start in life.

In the classroom, the high school Soo-jin happily takes pictures of
all her classmates with a (then) fancy digital camera. Jin-sook asks
where she got the camera, but Soo-jin fidgets, vaguely saying that she
borrowed it from someone. Jin-sook wonders if it’s from that church boy,
asking Soo-jin if she’s decided to date him yet.Out on the track field, Pil gets down in starting position with the
other boys. It’s all rather dramatic, but as soon as the pistol goes
off, Pil jumps up… and trots over to the coach. Without preamble, he
announces, “I’m quitting running,” and walks off. Pah!

Girlish screams draw Soo-jin and Jin-sook’s attention to the track
field, where Coach has apparently rejected Pil’s resignation and is now
forcing Pil to practice his start amidst a group of cheering high school
fan girls. Jin-sook sneakily drops in the comment that Pil likes
Soo-jin, but Soo-jin doesn’t believe her, arguing that Pil never said
anything to her. Jin-sook sagely suggests that it’s hard to confess to a friend, since
it means that you might lose the friendship. Unfortunately, that goes
right over Soo-jin’s head, and she instead thinks that Jin-sook likes
Pil. Jin-sook does a heavy eye-roll and says that she doesn’t have any
feelings for Pil, thinking of him the same way she would a desk: either
comfortable or uncomfortable.

After track, Gu-gil and Dal-soo converse about how Pil doesn’t excel
at anything, and instead always chooses to try impossible things. Their
musings are cut short when Pil asks his friends if they’ve seen another
version of him running around, “Not this me, but a different me.” At their blank stares, he takes a chance and solemnly announces that
he’s from the future. It’s cool for a moment, until they simultaneously
call him a liar and walk off, leaving Pil talking to thin air.Alone, Pil tries to replay the events from last night (that is, the
2017 last night), but the sudden tone of the class bell brings on a
searing headache and a flash of déjà vu. Pil sees a vision of Soo-jin
cowering in in a hallway and immediately tears off looking for her.

Sure enough, Soo-jin is returning from gym when one of the soccer
nets she’s putting away snags on a giant mirror, and it starts falling
towards her. Pil comes running up just as the mirror shatters on the
floor, mere inches from where Soo-jin is crouched. Stepping up, Pil slowly walks over to the whimpering Soo-jin and
sweetly tells her everything will be all right. Soo-jin just stares back
at him, still shaken, when a teacher’s voice rings out.Pil remembers this very accident from ten years ago and recalls that
he had told Soo-jin, “You go ahead. Everything will be fine.” He repeats
the same thing to her now and gently pushes her behind a corner just as
Gestapo waltzes in, baton swinging.

Pil immediately takes responsibility, claiming that he was practicing
his running start and accidentally knocked the mirror over. Pil
flinches to remember what happens next, and a split second later,
Gestapo has him by the ear and is dragging him down the hallway. As Pil is hauled away, Soo-jin pokes her head around the corner and gazes after him.

Gestapo and Coach have a literal tug of war with Pil’s ears, each
mock-arguing that Pil can’t help running around and breaking things.
Coach starts to say that Pil should run… but Pil interrupts to suggest,
“Fifty laps.” Gestapo instead assigns him one hundred laps, and Pil looks
positively faint as he thinks that it used to only be fifty. He realizes
that this means things can change the second time around, then stomps
off to start running.In class, Soo-jin stares out the window where Pil is running.
Afterward, she makes her way down to the field and takes pictures of Pil
running, quickly ducking out of site whenever he rounds the corner near
her. As he runs, she quietly frets that he must be hot. (I’ll say…)

Soo-jin grins and admits that, looking at him now, Pil looks a little bit cool.Unable to run anymore, Pil collapses on the field and tries once
again to remember what happened last night after he left Soo-jin.
Finally he remembers, “The manhole!” With that, Pil jumps up and sprints out of the school while screaming about the manhole and looking absolutely nuts.

Pil races to the manhole and tries everything from attempting to rip
off the cover, to praying for the manhole to let him back in.
Regrettably, nothing works, as the mystical manhole doesn’t seem to be a
two-way door. Pil collapses on top of it and yells to the sky that he
doesn’t want to relive “this life that I couldn’t even get started.”
Aww.Soo-jin gets her pictures developed and hurriedly flips through them
to find the shot of Pil running around the field. Grinning at it,
Soo-jin labels the back of the picture, “The day when he ran around the
field 100 times!”

Soo-jin put the picture in an envelope just as buddy Seok-tae arrives
at the store to see her grinning at the photo. Soo-jin quickly drops
the letter and hands Seok-tae the pictures she took of him, though he
scowls to see that he’s sleeping in all of them. Seok-tae follows her outside and watches as she puts Pil’s picture in
the mail. He offers to carry her bag for her, but when she turns him
down, he keeps on insisting before pretty much wrestling her bag away
from her, growling slightly. Ok, that was a bit alarming.After his failure with the manhole, Pil mopes his way back into town,
but he immediately snaps to attention when he sees Seok-tae escorting
Soo-jin.

Hah, Seok-tae looks positively terrified when Pil runs up to him, and
he starts trying to lie that Soo-jin asked him to carry her bag
(Soo-jin: “When did I do that?”). Pil glares at his friend and tells him
to leave, claiming Soo-jin’s bag for himself.When Seok-tae scampers off, Soo-jin grabs her bag back, saying it’s
uncomfortable if he holds it. She uses Jin-sook’s line from before and
calls Pil an uncomfortable desk, but Pil adorably thinks that he would
be happy to be her desk, then when she lays her head down on it to nap…
Eeee! Oh my goodness, that lip bite. I can’t, he’s too cute!Pil abruptly gets an idea and grabs Soo-jin’s arm. He shouts that she
had to go somewhere with him and drags the confused girl all the way
back to the manhole. She furiously throws off his arm, but Pil grabs her
again and desperately asks if she’s actually from ten years into the
future.

Soo-jin is equal parts pissed and alarmed as Pil tries to get her to
remember what happened when they split apart last night. (Er, that is,
last night ten years from now. Or ten years from then? Time travel is
difficult on grammar.) She is understandably confused, and his frantic animation freaks her
out. Giving Pil a solid kick to the shins, Soo-jin runs off, and Pil has
to admit to himself that she must really be the past Soo-jin. Still holding the pink backpack, Pil catches up to Soo-jin. He starts
reciting things that will happen in the future and warns her against
things like riding scooters and dating pharmacists. (Hah!)

The pair run into Jin-sook, and she quickly pulls Pil to the side to
warn him that Soo-jin is going on a date that night with a guy from
church who has a reputation for kissing a bunch of girls. Pil realizes
that she’s talking about the guy who — in his timeline — will give
Soo-jin her first kiss.Soo-jin has been inching closer this whole time, but when Jin-sook
pushes her off, she huffs that the two of them should have fun together
and walks off with her bag. Pil moves to follow, but Jin-sook pulls him
back, asking what he’s going to do to stop Soo-jin from seeing Church
Boy. Pil mutters that a kiss doesn’t really matter much, and starts a
mini-rant that only yesterday, Soo-jin was going into multi-purpose
rooms with a pharmacist. Boy just cannot let that one go.

Flailing and stomping, Pil is on his way home when he gets scared by
Jung-ae, who pops out from behind a bush. He grimaces at her heavy
makeup and wonders if she was always like this. Sighing that no matter
what she does to her face, her husband won’t change, Pil walks away,
muttering about having to see her again in the past.Jung-ae runs after him and literally jumps on him as she asks for a
favor. She pours on the aeygo, which only makes Pil uncomfortable, and
spurs another déjà vu headache. Next thing we see, Pil and Jung-ae are
at a fast food joint with Dal-soo, Gu-gil, and Seok-tae.It looks like Jung-ae’s favor was for Pil to call out Dal-soo so that
she could buy him lunch, but instead, he called the whole gang.
Suddenly shy, Jung-ae pulls a pink letter from her pocket, and Pil sighs
internally, watching the scene replay from his memory.Jung-ae slides the letter across the table to Dal-soo, but Gu-gil
makes a grab for it. Annoyed at everything, Pil grabs the envelope and
puts it back in front of Dal-soo, snapping that it’s a love letter.

Dal-soo stares happily at the letter, and Jung-ae grins
embarrassedly. She whispers at him not to show anyone, then takes off,
giggling. She barely gets five steps before Pil, knowing what happens
next, calls out that the floor is wet. But it’s too late—Jung-ae still
slips, landing hard on her butt. Jung-ae tries to muster her remaining pride and limp out quickly,
except Pil yells for her to watch for the door… and then she runs face
first into a sliding glass door. Everyone else looks shocked, but Pil
just shakes his head, having seen it all before.At the table, Gu-gil pouts about Dal-soo getting a love letter from
Jung-ae. Pil cuts in to beg him to please forget about her, but Gu-gil
swears to never give her up. It’s too much for Pil, and he wails that he
needs a drink.

Cut to the pool hall, where the three friends watch in astonishment
as the now-inebriated Pil works his way through his fourth bottle of
soju. Just then, a group of on-leave soldiers come into the pool hall
and tut to see the high school-aged Pil drinking.Three sheets to the wind, Pil drunkenly yells back at the men that
he’s turning thirty soon. The soldiers snigger at him, inflaming his
pride and setting him off even more. Pil angrily starts towards the men,
and Dal-soo and Gu-gil leap up to intercept.Seok-tae, however, sprints away from the conflict and flees the pool
hall. He’s in such a hurry that he trips into the path of an oncoming
scooter, causing the driver and his packages to go flying. As it turns
out, the driver (Woo Hyun) is actually Seok-tae’s father and the neighborhood postman.

Seok-tae’s father isn’t exactly lovingly supportive, and his old
tattoos show us that he used to be a gangster. Seok-tae tells his dad
that Pil has always looked down on him ever since elementary school
because Pil’s father is the postmaster, while his is just a postman. This drives Seok-tae’s father nuts, and he snarls that his son must
take revenge, instructing that the best revenge is stealing what the
other person treasures most: “Then you can destroy him completely.” The words remind Seok-tae of the letter that Soo-jin sent to Pil, and
he asks his father for help. Soon after, we see the two of them holding
letters over an open fire and laughing.

At home, Soo-jin giggles over her pictures of Pil, thinking back to
how he saved her that day when the mirror fell. She tries to slap
herself out of it, but it’s no use, since she immediately starts
grinning again.Soo-jin gets a text from an unknown number that just has the quote,
“Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Soo-jin
texts back to ask who it is, then sends a quick message to Pil, asking
what he’s doing. She also thanks him for helping her out today.

Unfortunately, Pil is a little busy at the moment, as he’s trying to
take on the four soldiers by himself with Gu-gil and Dal-soo struggling
to tug their friend away. Soo-jin keeps texting him, mentioning that she
has somewhere to go, but won’t leave if he’s free to meet her. All the
while, Pil and his friends dart around the pool hall, fighting with the
soldiers.Soo-jin texts that she’ll wait for him and offers to buy him dinner
to make up for his one hundred laps, but as the time ticks by and
there’s no answer, her texts turn angry. Just like ten years from now,
Soo-jin sends a stream of angry messages that go unheard, finally
culminating in a, “Get lost!”

In the pool hall, the fight has ended with the arrival of Gu-gil’s
father (who owns the pool hall). Post-fight, Pil lies drunk and
semi-conscious on a pool table, his parents standing over him. Gu-gil’s
dad, who’s pretty drunk himself, yells at them for not raising their son
right. Pil’s dad gives a weak answer that they did the best they could,
but it didn’t work out. All the yelling rouses Pil enough for him to mumble out that Gu-gil’s
father should stop drinking, since he dies in 2014. Everyone looks
confusedly at Pil, but Dad takes the opportunity to punch his son in the
stomach. Well, that’s one way to sober up.The punch knocks Pil into a kind of nightmare where he imagines he’s
at Soo-jin and Jae-hyun’s wedding, but no one can hear his fervent cries
of, “Objection! OBJECTION!!”

Pil returns to consciousness when his parents shove him into the
bathroom via plunger and broom. Dad brings up their missing digital
camera, and Pil remembers that he had given the camera to Soo-jin.
Before he can defend himself, both declare that they’re wasting their
time and should just worry about their own lives. Harsh.After a shower, Pil wonders if he should just devote himself to this
new chance at life and actually get things right this time around. He
imagines a future where he becomes a successful doctor and happily
marries Soo-jin. Emboldened, Pil figures that he already knows
everything that happens in this life, so he can fix his own history.

Pil goes up to his room to study with renewed vigor, already eagerly
anticipating Soo-jin’s reactions to his amazing grades. Sadly, he
doesn’t know the answers to his math homework, and his passion to start
anew fades in the face of algebra. Instead, his mind drifts to Jin-sook telling him that Soo-jin is
going on a date with the church playboy that night, and he decides that
his new history will instead begin with saving Soo-jin’s first kiss.Pil runs to the church but has another déjà vu along the way,
remembering that in the past, this confrontation resulted in him getting
his butt kicked (and we see it, punch for bloody punch). He takes a
quick detour and recruits his friends to come with him.

In the church, Gu-gil, Dal-soo, and Seok-tae fret over whether
they’re going to hell for sitting in church when they’re planning to
beat someone up. Pil is oblivious to everyone and glares daggers at
Church Boy, who’s sitting with his arm around Soo-jin.Seok-tae tries to tell Pil that the guy is the best fighter in his
school, but Pil psyches himself up that the guy is still just a high
schooler, while he’s an adult. Heh, his glowering draws the boy’s
attention, and he looks over to see Pil drawing his finger across his
throat at him.Outside the church, Pil saunters up to the boy, greeting him like an
old enemy and saying the time has come for revenge. Church Boy, of
course, has no idea who he is or any memory of fighting him, but he
still meets Pil threat for threat.

Soo-jin runs up and tries to get Pil to back down, but Pil snaps back
that she has terrible taste in men, adding that this guy will end up
dumping her in six months. Church Boy takes offense, and the two of them
physically bump chests as he tells Soo-jin that he’ll have to cancel
their plans tonight — something just came up.Pil preempts the guy’s suggestion to go somewhere else to fight,
knowing that he’ll suggest a park behind the church. He heads off
towards it, thanking the manhole for giving him a chance at revenge.

In the park, Pil runs around, flipping over trash and looking for
something while everyone stares at him. Jung-ae and Jin-sook also arrive
to watch, though Jung-ae is more intent on Pil getting his butt kicked,
while Jin-sook wants to stop the fight. Dal-soo pulls her back, saying,
“Realization always comes after suffering.” Pwahaha. Some back up. Pil finally finds what he’s looking for under a piece of cardboard: a
drainage grate. The fight commences, and Pil immediately starts getting
his butt kicked. It’s pretty clear that Church Boy is a very skilled
fighter, and Pil’s friends weakly cheer as his face becomes a punching
bag.Elsewhere, a father watches a Cinderella cartoon with his young
daughter and tells her that the magic only lasts until midnight, then
everything goes back to normal.

Back at the playground, things aren’t looking good for Pil as he’s
knocked down again, the fight playing out exactly as it did the first
time. As he’s bashed down once more, a small chyron appears on the
corner of the screen to count down: Two minutes until midnight. Pil gets up and takes a wild swing at Church Boy, forcing him to step
back. As he does, the guy’s foot get caught in a drainage grate — the
same grate that Pil had uncovered before the fight. Both boys freeze and
a narrator chimes in to tell us that this is the same grate that Pil
had gotten his foot stuck in ten years ago, costing him the fight. Ahh, clever boy.As Church Boy struggles to regain his balance with his stuck foot,
Pil looms in with a punch, and the tide turns. Pil delivers hit after
hit and finishes with an uppercut of his own, knocking Church Boy flat.

The friends cheer, but Soo-jin jumps in to whack Pil. She yells that
if he would have answered her texts, none of this would have happened.
Pil has no clue what she means, but Soo-jin tells him to forget it and
runs away. Before Pil can follow, Church Boy struggles to his feet, grabs a
stick of wood, and takes a swing at Pil. Our hero dodges, and the bat
heads straight for Jung-ae. Gu-gil immediately jumps in front of Jung-ae, blocking her and taking
the hit himself. Standing shocked in his arms, Jung-ae swoons up at
Gu-gil while Dal-soo watches. Uh-oh.

Pil races after Soo-jin, but just as he catches up and grabs her
wrist, a bell tolls and a voice announces that it is midnight. Time
freezes, and Pil’s future self is magically pushed out of his body. He
gapes at the image of himself and Soo-jin, but a bright light transports
him back into the supernatural manhole waterslide.As Pil slides, we return to the manhole cover, except this time,
there’s a bunch of litter and trash surrounding the area. The lid
unexpectedly bursts off, and Pil slowly emerges from the hole… as a
gangster?

Complete with the requisite gangster bling and a giant tattoo, Pil
the Gangster climbs out of the hole. As Pil gazes around, a radio
playing from the boom box of a passing homeless guy announces increasing
gang related crimes in the town. Pil wanders up to a broken mirror and gapes at himself. He stares at
his sleazy outfit and tattoo and asks his reflection in disbelief, “This
is me?”A chyron announces that it is currently noon in 2017, six days before Soo-jin’s wedding.

COMMENTSHah! He’s a gangster! He wins one fight and suddenly he’s the neighborhood Godfather. Now that’s
what I call a butterfly effect! It fits though, because Pil’s life so
far has been a kind of blank canvas — he’s never truly started with
anything, so he never really became anything. I loved that hidden
metaphor his track coach dropped in about life being a series of starts
and finishes, and without a solid start, it doesn’t matter how fast you
accelerate. The fact that his winning just one fight changed his whole
future makes me think that he was just waiting to find one something to
try for.It appears that Pil does have a lot of hidden potential, but without a
direction, he never applied it and simply settled for being an adorable
goof, bumming his way through life. After watching the way his parents
treat him, it’s pretty clear that his parents gave up on him from an
early age. I’m not saying they’re bad parents, since we’ve barely
scratched their backstory, but so far they’re showing a disturbing kind
of apathy towards their son, only caring when his actions directly
affect them. It’s amusing to watch, but a bit unsettling if you think of
how their actions shaped their son. A cornerstone of a child’s
development is the motivation they receive from their guardians, and if
Pil grew up with parents that didn’t care to push or inspire him, it’s
no wonder he’s lacking in drive.

I am really curious to learn how the relationship between Soo-jin and
Pil got so tangled, especially since it looks like they were heading
toward each other even in high school. If Pil was that kind to her, and
Soo-jin had already developed feelings for him, I have no idea how they
didn’t end up together. I appreciate that Seok-tae may have thrown a
wrench in their story given that he probably stole all their letters for
two decades, but that by itself couldn’t have been enough to ruin their
relationship completely.I’m absolutely loving Pil’s character, and Jaejoong is doing
an amazing job of completely throwing himself into the role. The
constant flouncing and wailing is entertaining, but there are some
warmer moments that just melted my heart, like Pil comforting Soo-jin
when the mirror fell. His whole demeanor softened, and for once he lost
the flippant attitude and focused completely on her. I can already tell
that he cares so much, but has no idea how woo his lady love. Thank
goodness for aliens and their mystical manholes giving him another
chance. Crossing my fingers that Pil can find a way to fix his own start
on life, and stop a wedding before it’s too late.

Manhole: Episode 1

All title-related giggles aside, Manhole delivers a
whole lot of silly thanks to its hapless man-child protagonist who has a
penchant for tantrums and an undying love for a woman he’s unwittingly
let slip through his fingers. He may not take his studies seriously, but
he’s serious about holding onto his first love, and a magical manhole
just may help his cause — or it may just produce disastrous results. Episode 1: “My Love is Leaving”A glowing, yellow spark resembling a firefly zips through the sky and
heads straight for Seoul. It’s a tiny capsule, and we follow it as it
whizzes around the city before floating above the roof windows of two
neighboring homes. Through one window, we see BONG PIL (Jaejoong) drunkenly pour himself another mug of ginseng wine. He pokes his head out and glumly looks across to where KANG SOO-JIN (Uee), dressed in a pretty hanbok, sits in her room, instructed by her mother to stay put until her fiancé arrives. Cheeky narration and superimposed text inform us that sad doofus Pil
is 28, has been studying for the same exam for three years, and is the
main character of the story. He fails to grab the glowing spark, and he
narrates that his love disappeared like that shooting star, adding that
the love in his heart is bitter like a chalice of poison — as opposed to
his father’s aged ginseng wine, which gets sweeter over time.

Pil ducks back into his room when Soo-jin moves to her window and
narrates that his love for her began twenty-eight years ago, adding that
you’re only given one chance in life and it never turns out the way you
want it to. The narration continues that he and Soo-jin were born three
days apart in the same hospital, but while he waited for the perfect
moment to confess his love to her, to his surprise, she decided to marry
a man she only met months prior. Elsewhere, the spark zips through a tunnel and into a manhole, illuminating it with intricate designs.

Pil heads outside and finds Soo-jin’s fiancé, PARK JAE-HYUN (Jang Mi-kwan) and his groomsmen in high spirits as they deliver hahm
(a box filled with presents for the bride and her family, courtesy of
the groom). Pil drunkenly hollers at them to cut the noise, but when
they ignore him, he throws a fit until Soo-jin arrives and glares at
him. We’re informed by the show that Soo-jin is the “neighborhood femme
fatale who was Pil’s love, but now has a week left until her wedding.”Pil’s parents – “who gave up on their son a long time ago” – arrive
soon after, and Dad, a soon-to-be-retired postmaster, angrily flings his
empty ginseng wine bottle at Pil, causing him fall back against
Soo-jin.

We flash back to the moment when Pil, “a beast who never knew love,
finally became human.” In third grade, Soo-jin was assigned to sit next
to Pil, and he was instantaneously smitten, so much so that he posted a
drawing of him and Soo-jin as a married couple—but because of it, all
the kids started teasing them. Pil narrates that he was too progressive at the time, and Soo-jin was
too conservative. She was reduced to tears and slapped Pil in the face,
which is when Pil narrates that everything took a turn for the worst.

Back in the present, the next day, Pil discovers that he’s out of
cigarettes and money. But when he tries to ask his parents to spare him
some cash, they vanish like the wind, heh. Pil walks past his friend who owns a juice truck, and she’s already
heard about his outburst. She figures he must’ve been upset given his
devotion to Soo-jin (describing him as being “like a fly around poop”),
but Pil snaps at her for the gross comparison. This friend is YOON
JIN-SOOK (Jung Hye-sung), with the chyron describing her as Pil’s female friend who knows everything about him.

Pil arrives at the study hall and impatiently asks the guy next to him for a cigarette. Said guy is JO SEOK-TAE (Baro),
who’s been studying for the same exam for six years with no potential
in sight, heh. The sign above his study booth reads, “I must study in
order to marry a pretty woman!” Outside, Pil grows agitated when he can’t light his cigarette, and
Seok-tae laments that he’ll probably turn thirty before passing his exam
due to the slim passing rate. Pil calls Seok-tae out for being so
indecisive and for switching from the bar exam to the civil service
exam, but Seok-tae insists that judges are public servants, too. Pil claims that he’s superior since he’s studying to become a cop,
and the two start quarreling, but a man who looks too old to be studying
yells at them to be quiet.

They snack on instant noodles from the convenience store outside
Jin-sook’s food truck. Jin-sook advises Pil to kill Soo-jin’s fiancé,
but the preposterous tip infuriates Pil and reminds him that he has such
losers for friends. But Jin-sook counters that she’s a CEO/young
entrepreneur because of her juice truck, while Pil expresses his
determination to thwart Soo-jin’s imminent wedding. Jin-sook wonders how Pil will accomplish that, but Seok-tae chimes in
that she needn’t worry, since Pil is great at stopping things — like
that one time when he fell during a high school relay race and prevented
his school from competing in nationals. Haha.That comment results in a hard smack on the head, courtesy of Pil,
and Seok-tae cries in pain as the hot soup spills over his face.

On her rooftop, Jin-sook tends to Seok-tae’s stinging mouth while Pil
continues to pout about losing Soo-jin. She offers to call Soo-jin for
him so he can profess his love now, but Pil throws a tantrum before
leaving, upset that he’s too late and that Soo-jin and Jae-hyun may have
already spent their first night together. Seok-tae wonders who Jin-sook
will end up marrying, and she burps loudly before stating that it
definitely won’t be him. As Soo-jin examines her wedding photos in her studio, her fiancé
Jae-hyun, the “31-year-old neighborhood pharmacist and Pil’s arch
nemesis” enters and takes a seat next to her. Soo-jin’s dissatisfied by
the photos and wonders why she didn’t smile brightly like he did, but
he’s grateful for the photos nonetheless. He notices the broken fan in
her room then, and Soo-jin says nonchalantly that she breaks everything
she touches.

She apologizes for Pil’s ruckus, but Jae-hyun’s a good sport about it
and says he’ll get her out of her strange neighborhood in a week. When
he walks out, Soo-jin tries to smile like she did in the photo above her
desk. Meanwhile, Jae-hyun receives a call from a “Young-joo” (uh oh!)
but ignores it with a frown. Inside a comic book/DVD rental store, OH DAL-SOO (Lee Sang-yi),
the “neighborhood hyung and formerly smart film student who’s merely
smart” strums his guitar and sings “City of Stars.” Pil enters and asks
him for some advice since he’s seen so many movies: How do people in
movies stop weddings? Heh. Dal-soo just tells Pil to snap out of it
since movies aren’t reality.

Dal-soo doesn’t understand why Pil didn’t stop Soo-jin earlier, and
Pil whines that he didn’t know she was getting married and never
received a wedding invitation. He wonders why he never received one, and
Dal-soo sighs as he wonders why Pil didn’t know better.Pil whines and throws another fit, shouting that he knew she was
dating someone, but that he never expected her to get married so soon.
Ever the wise one, Dal-soo reminds him that even with twelve ships,
General Yi Soon-shin never gave up, and recommends that Pil check out
the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral, wherein Hugh Grant stopped a wedding, heh. Dal-soo commends himself for being so cool, and then HONG JUNG-AE (Kim Min-ji) enters and claps for him, but her smile drops when she sees Pil lying on the couch.

The chyron tells us that Jung-ae is “enemies with Pil and has been
living and working with Dal-soo for two years.” She hits Pil where it
hurts by asking if he received a wedding invitation and mentions that
Soo-jin’s husband seemed tall, handsome, and successful. And before Pil leaves, he informs Dal-soo that in the second grade, Jung-ae shat a big one in the classroom, lol.

Flash back to high school days to Soo-jin’s birthday, which was three
days after Pil’s birthday. Pil had prepared the most exciting party for
Soo-jin, who waited expectantly at a playground. Pil came up to her
while singing “Happy Birthday” and presenting her with a stack of
chocopies lit with birthday candles. On Pil’s cue, Seok-tae and Dal-soo pushed down the detonator to set
off firecrackers around the couple, and Soo-jin marveled at the
beautiful sight. But Pil narrates that that’s when things went wrong. Cops had arrived and ordered them to halt, so Seok-tae and Dal-soo
made a run for it, but the firecrackers went off again, trapping Soo-jin
and Pil. Pil narrates that that day, Soo-jin went to the police station
for the first time and that both their parents had to show up. Pil
wonders if Soo-jin had already forgotten about that eventful night.

Back in the present, Soo-jin reaches the top of a mountain and
marvels at the view, but after setting up her tripod, she discovers that
she didn’t bring her camera. She laughs to herself for making such a
dumb move and happily answers a call from Jin-sook and Jung-ae, who
invite her for drinks at their usual joint.Soo-jin arrives at the bar, where the server congratulates her on her
upcoming marriage. But the server also admits there’s not much to
marriage anyway, and wonders why Soo-jin doesn’t enjoy her life a bit
more before getting hitched. Jung-ae informs her friends that Pil asked Dal-soo how to stop
Soo-jin’s marriage, and Jin-sook adds that Pil came to her too, so she
jokingly suggested that he kill Jae-hyun. Soo-jin isn’t amused by any of
this, but when asked why she didn’t invite Pil to her wedding, she’s
surprised that he didn’t receive her invitation that she mailed to him,
despite living next door.

Jin-sook explains to Jung-ae why Soo-jin felt uncomfortable giving
Pil the invitation in-person by using Jung-ae’s ex (named Gu-gil) as an
example, concluding that since there’s no solution to Pil, Soo-jin
should just stick it out for a week. Meanwhile, Pil stops by his friend’s billiards/internet store, and
this friend has also heard all about Pil’s outburst. YANG GU-GIL is his
name, and he’s the kind neighborhood hyung who’s strong, but
simple-minded. He understands Pil’s misery since he felt the same way
when he lost Jung-ae, and Pil desperately seeks his advice so that he
can marry Soo-jin.

Gu-gil is appalled by Pil’s behavior and states that that isn’t how a
man should behave, but seeing how desperate Pil is, he concedes that
there is one way — and the answer is speed. He remembers that Pil was a
fast runner, but that his starts were rubbish, and suggests a shotgun
wedding like the celebrities do soon after they consummate their
relationship. At this, Pil finally gets fed up with the lousy tips from
all his neighborhood friends.Elsewhere, Seok-tae gets home and cackles at the wedding invitation
on his desk that’s addressed to Pil. He tosses it in a drawer filled
with other mail addressed to Pil. (Huh? Why?)

Soo-jin is back at her studio photographing objects and is
disappointed to see Pil stop by. He asks her how her stock photo
business is going, and she says her photos aren’t selling, but Pil had
figured that she was making bank when she decided to marry all of a
sudden. Soo-jin asks him what he wants, so he takes her by the shoulders and
passionately tells her he loves her before pulling her into a hug… and I
knew it! It was all in his mind.He’s actually hugging himself while muttering her name, HA, and
Soo-jin laughs as she snaps photos of his awkward pose. She scolds him
for being a drunken mess yesterday and says that she had to assure
everyone that he was her friend. Pil asks if they’re friends, and
Soo-jin answers that they’re frenemies, though she can’t believe that
the son of a postmaster hasn’t even received her wedding invitation in
the mail yet.

Pil says he’s busy these days, but Soo-jin says he has to come to her
wedding, since he has the most free time out of anyone and is her
dearest frenemy. Pil impulsively drinks from the mug on her desk, and
Soo-jin freaks out because it’s scalding hot coffee, but he ignores her
concern and gulps it down anyway before running out. Once outside, Pil frantically drinks from the water fountain to
soothe his throat. A concerned passerby asks if she should call 911 for
him, but he informs her that his ailment can’t be cured, heh. He’s in a
frenzied state and is incredulous that he wasted twenty-eight years just
by failing to say, “I love you.” He lets out some steam at the batting cage and goes back and forth
between “I can’t let her go” to “I’ll let her go” with every swing.
Jin-sook’s suggestion that he profess his love now and the notion that
Soo-jin and Jae-hyun may have already spent their first night together
flips a switch in Pil suddenly, and it’s enough to send him running and
shouting that he’ll never let Soo-jin go.

He sprints with determination in his eyes and runs right past his
baffled parents, through the tunnel, and past the manhole from which
faint green smoke emanates.He arrives at Soo-jin’s photo studio, but she’s already left, so he
rings the doorbell of her home. He tells her mom that he has something
important to share with Soo-jin that can’t be done over the phone, so
her mom tells him to call her to find out where she is, an obvious idea
that didn’t occur to Pil at the moment, heh.

Pil calls Soo-jin, who’s saved under his phone as “My Precious” a la Lord of the Rings,
but her phone is turned off. He immediately assumes the worst and
pictures Soo-jin and Jae-hyun in bed together, with Jae-hyun turning
over her phone before getting under the covers with her. Pil panics and
resumes sprinting, running past all his friends, and the speed of his
pace literally blows gusts of air into their faces. They know Pil’s
about to wreak some havoc. Pil finally reaches the pharmacy and offends the bald pharmacist
there when he demands to know where the younger pharmacist is, the one
who still has all his hair, heh. The bald pharmacist says that Jae-hyun
left work already, and when Pil spots condoms on the counter, he panics
even more and urges the bald man to quickly give him Jae-hyun’s phone
number. Pil calls Jae-hyun, but these calls also go unanswered, so he
imagines Jae-hyun and Soo-jin in bed again — only this time, Jae-hyun
flips his phone over too.

He barges into numerous motels to see if the owners have seen Soo-jin, but he keeps getting forcibly dragged out from every one.After dashing around like a madman, he finally slows down without
having found Soo-jin. He steps on a hose that sprays him, and he can’t
help but laugh at his misfortune. He walks past Jin-sook as she’s
packing her truck up for the day, and she wonders if he fell in a
manhole given his smelly and drenched state.

Pil walks away in a daze, but happens upon a “multi-entertainment
space” where he spots Soo-jin walking out with Jae-hyun, hand in hand.
Pil, assuming that they did the deed, is very upset and demands to know
why they had to do it at such a cheap venue when he would’ve taken out a
loan to take Soo-jin to a four or five star hotel. Soo-jin and Jae-hyun don’t understand Pil’s babbling and urge him to
stop crying and speak clearly, but Pil is beside himself and wails that
Soo-jin’s always gone when he has something important to tell her. Pil
calls Jae-hyun “cheap like the multi-entertainment space,” and next
thing we know, Pil is at Jin-sook’s rooftop, lying down with his eyes
closed as his friends watch over him.

When he comes to, Dal-soo informs him that he fainted after fighting
with the pharmacist, and that Gu-gil carried him here. He wonders how
Pil could faint after just one punch (hahaha) and adds that Jae-hyun
even provided medicine for him.Pil sits up and finds Soo-jin off to the side, arguing with Jae-hyun
on the phone because he hit her friend. While his friends drink and
suggest revenge against Jae-hyun, Pil is concerned about Soo-jin and
approaches her.

He suggests they go home since he always gets blamed when she gets home late, so they proceed to walk together. Soo-jin hands Pil a wedding invitation, and he stares at it for a
beat since it’s addressed to “my dear friend Bong Pil.” She asks him to
divulge what he had to tell her in-person that was so important, but he
hems and haws while she patiently waits. He manages to say, “Whenever I see you—…” and Soo-jin waits for him to continue, but he struggles and sputters that he really
needs to pee, haha. He clarifies that seeing her doesn’t make him pee,
but that he needs to pee in this very moment because he didn’t have a
chance to pee after running around all day today. Just dig that grave
deeper, Pil.

He nervously excuses himself and tells a speechless Soo-jin that he’ll be right back.Pil descends a series of steps and opens the wedding invitation while
standing by the manhole. He crumples it and shouts his regret that
there’s so much he wants to say to her, but he doesn’t know where to
begin because “I love you” doesn’t suffice, and he worries that
professing his love to her won’t make a difference now. Meanwhile,
Soo-jin waits around for Pil to return.

Suddenly, the lamp above Pil starts to flicker, and green smoke
circles the manhole. Soo-jin descends the steps to see what’s taking Pil
so long, but Pil is no longer where we saw him. She looks around and
calls his name, but he’s nowhere to be seen. That’s because Pil is sliding down what appears to be a never-ending
waterslide, hahaha. I guess someone fell down the magical manhole!Above ground, Soo-jin finds his wedding invitation on the ground and
is incredulous that he ditched her. After she storms off, the manhole
lid rises to burp. Yes, you read that correctly.

We find ourselves inside a high school classroom, where a teacher
instructs his students to recite phrases in German. Sitting in the back
and fast asleep is Pil, and high school Soo-jin sits in front of him. Pil scrambles awake after the teacher angrily chucks chalk at him,
and he unthinkingly identifies the teacher as “Gestapo.” Oh boy. All the
students’ jaws drop at his brazenness, and the teacher flings the
blackboard eraser at Pil, but Pil catches it.That’s when he finally notices Soo-jin in front of him, as well as
Jin-sook and Seok-tae, who are also in the classroom. He is beyond
confused and wonders why they’re all here in their school uniforms,
haha.

The German teacher (who’s never been to Germany) strides toward him
with a plastic pipe in hand, and Pil explains that he probably caught
the blackboard eraser because he’s gotten hit before and somehow
expected it. Pil is still unclear on where he is and why, but the
teacher says this classroom will now be hell for him and screams the
word “idiot” in German. “What is this horrible déjà vu?” Pil wonders. Epilogue. Four aliens traveling in a capsule are in
Seoul, but find the city too stifling. They float over to Pil and
Soo-jin’s homes instead, which we saw in the beginning. Through their
capsule they see Pil and giggle at how unattractive and pathetic he
looks, hah.

COMMENTSThe humor of Manhole isn’t highbrow by any means, but it
still works (for now at least) because of a solid cast that’s really
owning their characters’ quirks and varying shades of slackerdom.
Jaejoong nailed the adult tantrum more than once, and it’s pretty
amusing to see him express his misery so uninhibitedly. Pil was
presented to us in all his pathetic glory, so I don’t immediately see
what Soo-jin is missing by marrying Jae-hyun, who seems perfect on paper
(but may have a lingering ex-girlfriend!), but I’m willing to give Pil a
chance and hopefully see more glimpses of the sweet boyfriend who once
planned a birthday surprise involving firecrackers. I really like how cool and levelheaded Soo-jin is. She’s known Pil
all her life and patiently gave him the chance to spill, and even though
he was unable to speak up (in part due to an unforeseen magical
manhole), she never rushed him or dismissed his intentions, which is a
testament to their strong friendship. She still values Pil as a friend,
and it’s clear she’s not one to abandon her friendships simply because
she’s about to get married. She strikes me as a very reasonable and
genuine woman, and I have zero qualms about that! The zany editing of this show really adds to the humor and quickens
the pace. I liked the cheeky narration that succinctly introduced us to
all the characters, and I laughed out loud at how ridiculous Pil looked
as he traveled down the manhole. The scene was so cartoonish, and Pil’s
limbs suddenly turned all squiggly like he was made of white play dough,
so it was hard not to laugh. For once, low-budget animation works in
the show’s favor. The aliens at the end looked so bizarre with the huge
eyes, but for Manhole, the sillier the better, because it seems the show is tightly adhering to its frivolous tone. I think the manhole will come in handy for Pil, but I, personally,
would HATE to repeat high school all over again (*shudders*). However,
it’ll be fun to see Pil figure out how the manhole works and try to make
sense of the time travel rules. I loved how confused he was back in the
high school classroom, and I also loved how confused his friends were
by his behavior. I think I would’ve acted exactly like Pil did if I
found myself back in high school, though I probably wouldn’t have
pointed at and addressed my teacher as “Gestapo.” Jaejoong’s
bewilderment and slow realization that he’s no longer in the present was
a delight to watch. Never thought I’d write this very sentence, but I’m
ready for more sad sack Pil and burping manhole! Dramabeans

Yes, that is the title. No, I am not joking.Title aside, I went into this drama completely with zero expectations, because I haven’t seen the leads UEE and Jae Joong in anything else before this.But yay for pleasant surprises!I am really liking this drama!It’s completely bonkers- zany and off kilter. And as Elle described it, it’s a bit like everyone in it is high on something.But, I’m really loving it! haha. 😆Maybe it’s because I really have been in a slump too long, and I
really needed something upbeat and slight crazy to jump start my drama
watching engine again. Maybe its because I just am a sucker for crazy zany teasers– like how I loved the crazy one in Moonlight Drawn by Clouds.(I miss Bogum! and Yoo Jung!)Summary from My drama list:(Manhole) Tells the story of Bong Pil (Kim Jae Joong), an
unemployed man who mooches off his parents while pretending to study for
the civil service exam. Bong Pil time travels into the past through a
manhole in an effort to stop the wedding of his lifelong crush, Soo Jin
(UEE), set to happen one week into the future.But seriously, the summary doesn’t convey the tone of the drama,
which you have to go in prepared for. It’s not a show for everyone, but
it does hit the right notes for me because:Jae Joong as Pil is fantastic.Now Pil is a bit of a bum- he doesnt seem to have a job and is really
whiny. And like a mad puppy that can’t stop jumping and barking and
chasing it’s tail- he runs around and frets and literally over reacts to
everything.He didnt do anything about his love for 28 years and now he is moping about it because he has 1 week left.And he really mopes. And whines. And mopes some more.And when he is done moping, he runs around again.But Jae Joong carries it off- because he is 100% committed to the
role, and he does it with so much conviction and belief that you believe
in him too.Honestly, I’m blown away by how good his acting is!And beneath it all, Pil has a good heart, and you can really tell he
loves Soo Jin. He just has the mentality of a 6 year old, and can’t get
his act together to tell her.And there are swoony scenes to prove it!Soo Jin broke a school mirror and she was so scared and worried about
the repercussions (cuz their discipline master aka Gestapo is Scary.)And like a knight in shining armour, Pil swooped in and comforted
her, and took the rap for her, and the 100 laps of running as
punishment.Also, there was this beautiful scene of how he surprised her for her birthday with fireworks:Isn’t he sweet?But of course, given the drama, the moment got instantly ruined when
the cops came. And they ended up in a police station. With their
parents. 😂The side characters are funny.I am loving Pil’s best friend Oh Jin Suk (Jung Hye Sung). Hye Sung
has slowly wormed by way into my heart as an actress with great comedic
timing, who also gives her 100%. Not a ounce of self consciousness at
all, no many how crazy the role!Also, I think she has harboured a little more than just a crush on
Pil. But regardless, their candid interactions are wonderful to watch. I
love the two of them together. BFFs for sure!These 2 are just slightly insane. In a good way!And, Pil’s parents are a hoot! I love them.They have completely given up on Pil. And it is so so funny to see how dead pan they are about it.

It’s like they have passed the usual nagging fretting stage that all
kdrama parents are usually in, and are now in the calm
I-dont-give-a-damn waters beyond. 😂😂😂And lastly: There are time travel identity hijinks to be had!So Pil time travels via Manhole, back to his school days, and since
he knows the future, makes some changes to it, in his benefit. But at
the stroke of midnight, he gets sent back to the future, again via
Manhole, and *omo*His future is changed!He is now a gangster! Who was just released from jail! And the best
part is, he doesn’t even know how he ended up like this! His brain is
still of the old Pil! 😂😂😂😂😂Can you smell the hilarity coming up?? 😆Of course, I will talk a bit about a few things I wasn’t particularly pleased by:UEE is a tad awkward. She hasn’t owned the role like the rest yet,
and sometimes you can feel like she is acting. I do hope this will
improve in the coming episodes. But the good news is that I can feel the
chemistry between her and Jae Joong, so I do do hope I will have a OTP
to root for soon. And it is obvious that Soo Jin likes Pil. She is just
waiting for him to say something. And probably grow up a bit. Or maybe
more than a bit. 😆It does help that I’m a total sucker for unrequited romantic angst.
And this one has it in spades. (He pined for her for 28 years!!!!)Also, don’t expect high end CGI and special effects. The tone of the
show and humour is pretty low brow (but not totally slap stick), and
like wise, the effects are campy and low budget. Probably intentionally
so.And I have no clue what’s up with the tiny aliens. 😆😆😆😆😆My verdict:Jae Joong is Zany. Insane. Crazy. Awesome.Don’t take the show too seriously, and you could be in for a fun ride.Besides, I can’t wait to see Gangster Pil next week and see the
hijinks as he pretends to be the tough guy, when really he is such a
puppy.What is he going to be next?? haha.Have a good weekend everyone!좋은 주말 보내세요!

Premiere Watch: Manhole (Episode 1 Recap)

I’ve been pretty vocal about my excitement for Manhole and IT’S FINALLY HERE! Manhole
premiered yesterday and unsurprisingly, was at the last of the ratings
race. I do hope it fares better as the week goes by as I liked what I
saw and I’m excited for all the hijinks. I ended up not being able to
follow Reunited Worlds week by week as originally planned so my Wed-Thu kdrama slot is actually free. Would Manhole make the cut? Let’s see!Reasons for Watching1. I need my comedy! The teasers were so fun that I went from not interested to super excited about this drama.
2. I love my fish-out-of-water trope (hello, catnip), especially if it’s time travel.
3. I pretty much like all of the actors. I had fun with Jaejoong back in Protect the Boss (I was part of the subbing team for that) and I’ve been fond of UEE since Ojakgyo Brothers. And I enjoyed Jung Hye-sung in Chief Kim so I’m pretty sure I’ll at least enjoy our main cast.RECAPWe open with a shot of Seoul, with a streak of light going down it.
Next thing we see are fireflies flying around, only to change into
streaks of light once again, and stopping by a balcony as a firefly. Our
male narrator introduces us to BONG PIL (played by Kim Jae-joong),
28 years old and studying for the civil service exam (level 9: for
cops), the main character of this story, drinking his father’s ginseng
wine out of a mug. He looks over his balcony to his neighbor’s to see a
bride.

trying to catch a firefly to no avail = metaphor for his love life, perhaps? HAHAHABong Pil compares his love that disappeared like a shooting star to
his dad’s wine. After 20 years, you’d think it’d be sweeter but in fact,
it’s bitter. Loud noises come from the street and our bride looks out,
only for Bong Pil to hide. He muses that it’s been 28 years; their (do
you mean your, Pil?) love started 28 years ago. He was only older by
three days and they were born at the same hospital. He’s been waiting
for the right time to confess his love but then he learns she’s suddenly
about to marry. Meanwhile, the firefly he tried to catch a while ago
turns into streaks of light that end up in a manhole.Bitter and drunk, Bong Pil goes out on the streets and tells the
merrymakers (they’re having the box ceremony for Soo-jin’s marriage)
that they’re too noisy and tries to break them up. Soo-jin’s fiance just
looks on.We’re finally introduced to KANG SOO-JIN (played by UEE)
by our female narrator, 28 years old and the so-called femme fatale of
the neighborhood, poised to have her wedding in a week. She shuts Bong
Pil right up with a single look. Bong Pil’s parents then come out and
his dad throws the empty container of wine at him. The female narrator
hilariously tells us that his parents have long given up on Bong Pil.
Haha!Bong Pil reminisces where it started going awry. They were on their
third grade where Soo-jin was seated next to him and that’s when he
started loving Soo-jin. His method of showing it was too progressive
(drawing them together with an X-marks-the-spot on his groin) so they
were teased and Soo-jin ended up crying for two hours and hating him.The next day, Bong Pil tries to ask for money from his parents, only
for them to go ninja and missing once he turns corners to where they
are. Haha! As in, you can hear his mom chopping vegetables but she
suddenly disappears.Dejected, he leaves his house and passes by YOON JIN-SOOK (played by Jung Hye-sung)
and her juice truck. She’s also 28 years old and she knows everything
about Pil. And as the promos described her, Jin-sook is mercilessly
blunt. I love her and her brand of tough love already. Pil goes to study
with JO SUK-TAE (played by Baro),
who’s 28 years old too and has been studying for the civil service exam
for six years already. They end up getting on each other’s nerves
because Pil tells Suk-tae he’ll never pass the exam and Suk-tae counters
that he should just give up on Soo-jin.They
relocate to Jin-sook’s juice truck to eat ramyeon, only for Suk-tae to
say even more digs at Pil, so Pil hits his head while he’s eating
ramyeon. Suk-tae ends up getting burned by the ramyeon. Haha! Jin-sook,
on the other hand, suggests killing the groom to stop the wedding. She
is indeed insane. I really love her.They relocate yet again to what looks like Jin-sook’s rooftop where
Jin-sook treats Suk-tae’s burns while a whining and brokenhearted Pil
rants. Jin-sook tells Pil that he’s been in love with Soo-jin for so
long that he should just tell her. Pil gets tantrums thinking that they
already had sex and Jin-sook comments that the whole neighborhood knows
that he’s in love with Soo-jin and proceeds to call a “neighborhood
meeting” by shouting about Pil’s situation literally from the rooftops.
Haha! Pil asks them for advice on how to undo everything or what he
should do, to which Suk-tae tells him to just wait for them to divorce.
That’s no good for Pil and he leaves. Jin-sook and Suk-tae continue
drinking and Suk-tae tries to subtly ask Jin-sook who is she gonna
marry. Jin-sook can see right through it and tells him that it’s not
him. HAHA!Soo-jin’s fiance, PARK JAE-HYUN (played by Jang Mi-kwan)
drops by her office. He’s 31 years old and a neighborhood pharmacist,
while Soo-jin works as a photographer. He’s the ever-doting fiance,
telling her she’s pretty, dropping by during his lunch break, telling
her he’ll be back after work and that they’ll eat out. Soo-jin
apologizes in behalf of Pil and Jae-hyun tells her that it’s okay,
although Pil’s scary. He comments that there’s only a week left and
he’ll whisk away Soo-jin from this strange neighborhood of hers, to
which she doesn’t look all that happy. Jae-hyun leaves and a certain
girl named Young-ju calls him, which he doesn’t answer. YOU ARE FISHY,
MISTER.Not being able to get helpful advice from Jin-sook and Suk-tae, Pil goes to a DVD and comic book rental shop where his friend OH DAL-SOO (played by Lee Sang-yi)
works. Dal-soo is 29 years old and was a smart film student. And the
narrator cheekily adds that he’s ONLY smart. Pil asks Dal-soo how do
people stop weddings in movies (ha!) and Dal-soo wisely says that life
isn’t like movies. He could get arrested or beaten up if he tries to
stop Soo-jin’s wedding. Pil bemoans that he was not even given an
invitation to the wedding and Dal-soo counters he shouldn’t focus on his
lack of an invite. He tells Pil that he lost the battle because he
sucked at gathering information. How come he didn’t know that Soo-jin
was getting married? In the end, Dal-soo recommends Hugh Grant’s Four Weddings and a Funeral as his advice. Pil can only whine and as he leaves’ we’re introduced to yet another classmate of his back then: HONG JUNG-AE (played by Kim Min-ji).
She’s been working and living with Dal-soo for two years and she has an
antagonistic relationship with Pil. She rubs salt to the wound by
telling Pil that Soo-jin’s fiance is tall and handsome, to which Pil
walks out, only to come back and tell Dal-soo that Jung-ae pooped inside
the classroom back in second grade. HAHAPil reminisces how he prepared a birthday surprise party for Soo-jin
back in high school. He pulled out all the stops, starting with a cake
made up of choco pies, followed by fireworks and sparklers going off in a
circle around them. It’s such a magical moment, only to be cut that it
was SUPPOSED to be like this.In reality, cops ended up arriving after Soo-jin blew the candles and
his accomplices (Suk-tae and Dal-soo) ended up running, and the
sparklers went off but not prettily at that. Soo-jin had to spend her
birthday inside the police station, writing a police report, where their
parents had to pick them up. He comments that it was like a wedding and
that’s why he thinks it was still a magnificent party. I’m sure she
doesn’t see it that way, buddy.Jin-sook
is with Jung-ae in Bongbong Pub and she calls Soo-jin to come by for
girls’ night. Soo-jin is actually atop of a hill where she’s laughing
all by herself, supposedly to take photos, but she forgot her camera.
The three girls talk about Soo-jin’s wedding and how Pil’s asking around
how to stop it. Jin-sook asks Soo-jin why she didn’t invite Pil, which
Soo-jin tells them she sent an invite via mail. Jung-ae tells Soo-jin
that she should have given it to him personally; they’re neighbors.
Soo-jin explains that it’s odd and Jin-sook takes her side and explains
how awkward it is to Jung-ae.And
we’re not yet done with character introduction! (I’m getting tired,
y’all.) At Pilseung Billiard Room and Internet Cafe, Pil asks YANG GOO-GIL,
a 29-year old neighbor who’s kind and strong, for advice. Goo-gil also
regrets not doing anything before when Jung-ae left him. Ooh, there’s a
triangle! Pil says that he HAS to marry Soo-jin and Goo-gil is
incredulous at this, even calling him a thug. The wedding’s in a week,
for god’s sake! Goo-gil tells him though that he can still win, if they
get a shotgun wedding *wink wink*. Pil won’t accept that as an answer
and tells Goo-gil that no one in this neighborhood is normal and he
shouldn’t have asked for advice.Suk-tae goes home and Pil’s wedding invitation is with him and he
hides it! Why didn’t he give it to Pil?! (I guess here’s where his
characterization of wanting Pil to fail in everything comes. I didn’t
realize how gravely though!) Meanwhile, Pil goes to Soo-jin’s office and
he gets huffy when he sees her pre-nup photos with Jae-hyun. Soo-jin
asks him what he’s here for and Pil tells him he was just taking a walk.
Pil finally tells Soo-jin that he’s in love with her and hugs her… only
that it’s in his imagination. He’s hugging air. Hahaha!Soo-jin
laughs at him and Pil tries to salvage the situation. Soo-jin then
reprimands him for making a scene during her box ceremony and how she
had to explain that he’s her friend. He asks her if he’s her friend and
she asks him that if he’s not her friend, then what is he? She comments
that he’s a friend who’s like an enemy and that she should have been
through with him. She obviously doesn’t really mean it. Pil then finally
asks why he wasn’t sent an invitation and Soo-jin wonders how it can’t
be there yet when his father is a postmaster. Pil asks her if she’s
happy getting married and she answers that of course she is. She asks if
he’s coming to her wedding and he tells her he’s not sure, to which
Soo-jin calls him out that he has the freest schedule in this whole
neighborhood.After he leaves Soo-jin’s office, Pil berates himself for not being
able to just tell her that he loves her. He goes to a batting cage,
convincing himself he should let her go. But in the end, he decides that
he shouldn’t and that he needs to tell her how he feels. He runs to her
office and when she’s not there, to her house. But she’s not there too
and when he tries to call her, he can’t reach her. His imagination gets
the better of him as he imagines that Soo-jin is with Jae-hyun in bed
for their first night and that Jae-hyun turned her phone off.He
runs around town and tries to find Jae-hyun at the pharmacy he works on
but he’s not there as well. He asks for his number and he also doesn’t
answer, to which he imagines that Jae-hyun turned his phone off and put
it on top of Soo-jin’s phone. Haha, the innuendo on this show! As he
runs, he makes gusts of strong wind, that his friends feel when he
passes them by. I love how wacky this show is!With
Soo-jin and Jae-hyun’s first night looming over his head, Pil goes from
one motel to another, showing Soo-jin’s photo and asking the
receptionists if this woman is inside. He even tries to break into
rooms. He has visited every single motel in town but he still can’t find
her. Defeated, he ends up walking in a daze and stepping on a hose,
only for it to shower him. Walking by Jin-sook’s juice truck, she tries
to dry him with a towel, only for Pil to continue walking in a daze.He
finally sees Soo-jin and Jae-hyun coming out of a multi-entertainment
room and he assumes that Jae-hyun is so cheap that he brought Soo-jin
there for their first night to have sex. Soo-jin and Jae-hyun can’t
understand what he’s saying because he’s all half-sentences and crying
from anger. As Pil acts increasingly incredulous, Jae-hyun’s patience
runs out and he punches Pil.Cut
to the whole gang on Jin-sook’s rooftop tending to Pil. Goo-gil brought
him home and as he’s coming to, he asks what happened and where’s
Soo-jin. Soo-jin is by a corner, quite pissed at Jae-hyun for hitting
her friend. Goo-gil suggests beating up Jae-hyun for coming onto their
own and Dal-soo suggests that suing would be better. The whole gang
plots how they’ll exact revenge on Jae-hyun and I. LOVE. THEM. And
plotting just ends up to drinking. Soo-jin tells Pil that they should
join them to drink but Pil tells her that he’ll get her home now since
her mom always asks him where she is whenever she’s late for home.They
end up walking together and Soo-jin gives Pil his invitation for the
wedding and subsequently asks him what was the important thing he needs
to tell her a while ago. Pil works up his courage and gets out “whenever
I see you”, to be continued with “my heart races like crazy”. But he
ends up blurting “I need to pee”, which he clears doesn’t mean that he
feels like peeing whenever he sees her. Ha! He just needs to pee right
now and he’ll tell her later. He leaves and hides near the manhole and
opens the invitation.He
admits that he now understands and realizes that admitting his love
wouldn’t change anything. And that he’s too late. Dejected, he crumples
to the ground. Meanwhile, Soo-jin is now worried where Pil is as he’s
taking too long. She passes by the manhole and walks further to the
tunnel but there’s no sign of Pil around. She’s obviously pissed that
Pil ran away.But we know that he didn’t because he actually ended up in the
manhole! Ohmygod, it’s so wacky, my tears are falling from the absurdity
of it all. Hahaha!We
then see Pil sleeping inside a high school classroom, with high school
Soo-jin, Jin-sook, and Suk-tae. Their teacher notices him sleeping and
wakes him up by throwing a chalk. He wakes up and is visibly surprised
at what he’s seeing. Their German high school teacher! Everyone in their
high school uniform! He calls his teacher annoying and his teacher
throws him the eraser, which he catches easily, as if it happened
before. His teacher is upset and promises that this classroom is gonna
be hell for him. Pil asks himself: “What’s going on? What is this
horrible deja vu?”EpilogueThe fireflies we saw a while ago actually have aliens in them!COMMENTSI love how bright and colorful the cinematography is with this one.
The whole neighborhood to which the drama is set seems warm and cheery
and it’s also populated by bright characters too. Moreover, I love how
everyone seems like a family. You totally feel that these people have
grown up together and have known each other for their whole lives.
They’re brutally honest and blunt, and they tease each other
mercilessly. They feel free to say anything to each other and at the end
of the day, even though they rib each other off the most, they also
have each other’s backs. Jin-sook is especially blunt yet she also seems
to be the mother hen of the group, taking care of them all. From
treating Suk-tae’s burn with an ointment, to drying Pil’s hair, to being
there for Soo-jin, I wanna be her friend.The dynamic between Pil and Soo-jin is especially interesting because
it isn’t as if Soo-jin is unaware that Pil is in love with her. I
assumed that would be the case and if that was it, I would have rolled
my eyes because how is that even possible when everybody knows. So I’m
happy that Soo-jin actually knows and yet they’re still friends. They’re
not awkward together and Soo-jin treats Pil how she treats all her
friends, except for the invitation bit, which I’d argue is indeed
awkward.Somehow, I feel like I should feel irritated with Pil because DUDE,
28 YEARS. How come he hasn’t confessed yet? And then here he comes
telling everyone that he HAS to marry Soo-jin. Surprisingly though, I
don’t feel my eyes rolling at him at any point. It’s because he doesn’t
say that he DESERVES Soo-jin because dude, obviously you don’t because
you’ve done nothing. I feel like Jaejoong’s innate charisma helped with
that. I just can’t help but root for him and cheer him on! I’m excited
to see what happened in the past though that he’s now in this hellhole.
Jae-hyun feels fishy because who is that girl calling him? Is he
two-timing? We still don’t know but for now, I don’t trust him.Let’s get to the wacky. Did you see how he went down that manhole? In
that white suit or what? HAHAHA. I love how hyperactive Pil’s
imagination is and I ADORE that we have narrators, who add cheeky side
comments and whatnots. It reminds me of the whimsy that is Pushing Daisies although Manhole
is not as whimsical. Despite all the wackiness, I still feel the
central emotions where the show is rooted in: regret and iron will and
determination. Despite all the bright colors, Pil’s love life is in
shambles, all thanks to his non-actions. Or should I say, he does act
but his actions all fire back on him.I’m stoked to see how Pil manages his travels to the past and how
it’ll affect his present. More hijinks, please! I didn’t realize there
were this many characters to the show and that the friendship circle is
larger than four. So I was quite surprised with that. Being in-the-know
of the plot from all the promotional materials, I’d say that I didn’t
really learn new from the first episode. But now that we’ve established
all the characters and Pil has traveled to the past for the first time, I
wanna see more of how the plot will take off now. And I’m sure the next
episode will show that. SO EXCITED.VERDICT: While not as laugh-out-loud funny (yet?) as I thought it would have, I enjoyed the first hour of Manhole,
mostly because of the wacky humor, quirky style (it has narrators!) and
the wonderful ensemble of characters. I’m definitely looking forward to
the next episode because I wanna see more time traveling shenanigans.
I’ll definitely follow this week by week because I need my dose of
comedy!http://dayan.xyz/2017/08/10/premiere-watch-manhole-episode-1-recap/

[V Report Plus] ‘Manhole’ will become my work of life’: Kim Jae-joong

Singer-actor Kim Jae-joon said the upcoming KBS drama “Manhole: Phil in
Wonderland” will become his work of life in a V app live broadcast
Wednesday.
“I transform (to other characters) at least 13, 14 times in the drama.
I’ve already filmed 3-4 characters,” he said. “I have to play more than
10 characters. As I can show you such transformations in the drama, I
think it will become my work of life.”
He said he is having a hard time filming the drama in the hot weather.
“I have no part on my body below my waist that has no wounds. I’m
filming while getting heat wave warning messages.”
The fantasy-comedy drama unfolds with the jobless man Bong-phil, played
by Kim, experiencing time travel after falling into a manhole.
“Manhole” airs Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10 p.m.
Naver’s real-time broadcasting app V allows fans to interact with their
favorite K-pop stars through live broadcasts. The app is available for
Android and iOS. For more information, visit http://www.vlive.tv.
By Kim So-yeon (syk19372@heraldcorp.com)kpopherald

Kim Jae-joong and UEE are in "Man-Hole".Kim Jae-joong busied himself trying to stop UEE's marriage.On the first episode of the new KBS 2TV drama "Man-Hole", the story of Bong-il (Kim Jae-joong) and the people around him took place.Civil examination student Bong-pil became furious as his crush and best friend Soo-jin (UEE) was getting married. Bong-pil drank his father's ginseng drink and became violent in front of Soo-jin's house.Bong-pil's friend Yoon Jin-sook (Jung Hye-sung)
said, "I heard you caused a ruckus in front of her house yesterday. Why
don't you just kill her husband?" Bong-pil was sure he was going to
stop the wedding.Bong-pil and Soo-jin go way back. They were born in the same hospital
and became friends since elementary school. Bong-pil had always had a
crush on her.However, he couldn't tell her how he felt. He asked why she didn't
give him a wedding invitation and she said, "You must come and
congratulate me. You're my worst and best friend".Bong-pil decided to tell her how he felt about her that night.
However, he didn't get to meet her and he went around being loud in the
neighborhood. He cried tears of anger when he saw Soo-jin with her
fiancé Park Jae-hyeon (Jang Mi-kwan). In the end, Park Jae-hyeon punched him and Bong-pil passed out.When Bong-pil woke up, Soo-jin sent him home. He tried to tell her he
liked her but hesitated and he time-slipped to the past through a
man-hole.Source : star.hankookilbo.com/...HanCinema‏@hancinema

The cast (JYJ’s Kim Jaejoong, UEE, Jung Hye Sung, and B1A4’s Baro) of KBS 2TV’s drama “Manhole” did a V Live broadcast on August 9 to talk about their drama and share behind-the-scenes stories.Kim Jaejoong, who plays the character Bong Pil, sustained injuries while filming
which required 7 stitches on his finger. During the V Live broadcast,
the cast brought up the injury. He then opened up about how when he
takes off his clothes, there’s not a single place in the lower half of
his body that is not covered by a bruise.“I think you can’t help it,” he said. “People tell me to be careful,
but I think it’s important for me as an actor to not be selfish with my
body.” He added that the hot weather during filming had also posed a
problem for the cast and crew.Because Kim Jaejoong’s character is time traveling between the past
and present, the cast also revealed that he has to constantly change his
hair and outfits throughout filming. UEE said, “Up to five times a
day!”The first episode of “Manhole” aired August 9 at 10 p.m. KST.Source (1)Soompi

Hip-hop duo Geeks's Louie enlisted the help of his girlfriend, producer, singer, and songwriter Hayana, for his new OST!

Louie and Hayana's OST is for new KBS2 drama 'Manhole', and the couple took on a remake of classic group Turtles's "Airplane",
adding Louie's own take to the rap as well as Hayana's clear voice.
Louie and Hayana announced they were dating to the public back in March
of this year.

In a making film for their OST, Louie and Hayana said, "We
are honored to remake this beloved song with our own rap and our own
color. It is even more meaningful because it will be an OST for
'Manhole'."

Listen to the couple's OST above! Meanwhile, 'Manhole' is set to premiere on August 9 at 10PM KST. allkpop

Upcoming KBS drama “Manhole” released a new highlight video on August
8 that showcased all the hilarity that will ensue throughout the show!The premise of “Manhole” is Bong Pil (Kim Jaejoong), while struggling with the fact that his 28-year-long crush and friend Kang Soo Jin (UEE) will be getting married, finds himself slipping back to random moments in time through a manhole.The video starts out with a short introduction to the four main characters, Bong Pil, Kang Soo Jin, Yoon Jin Sook (Jung Hye Sung), and Jo Seok Tae (B1A4’s Baro).
Bong Pil anguishes over the fact that he hasn’t confessed to his crush,
while Kang Soo Jin is shown to be frustrated at him at different points
in time. Yoon Jin Sook gives advice to Bong Pil about his one-sided
love, while Jo Seok Tae obsesses over his studies.As the video continues, it gives a longer look at what happens during
what appears to be Bong Pil’s first slip through time, when he finds
himself back in high school. When he finally returns to the present
however, he realizes that his actions in the past have changed the
present, as he has become a troublemaker instead of just someone
studying for the civil servant exam.Despite the changes, one thing has remained the same, and that is
Bong Pil’s drive to try and stop his friend’s marriage. The rest of the
video also shows glimpses of the other crazy happenings that will
occur throughout the drama.

During the press conference for their upcoming drama “Manhole,” JYJ’s Kim Jaejoong and UEE talked about their chemistry on set.Kim Jaejoong shared, “I didn’t know UEE personally before this
[drama], but my image of her was tall and pretty. I thought it would be
difficult to approach her since she seemed a bit cold. But once we met,
she treated me very comfortably, so I was able to get immersed in my
character fairly quickly. Thanks to her, I felt comfortable while
acting.”UEE then expressed, “My image of Kim Jaejoong was cold and
charismatic, but when we first met, he was dressed so casually. He
matches well with his character Bong Pil, and he’s really good with
ad-libs.”Meanwhile, “Manhole” will be airing its first episode on August 9.Source (1)Top photo credit: XportsnewsSoompi